Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is a subsidiary of a large bank, which as we all know has suffered significant losses. Clearly, the banking strategy and business model for that bank is changing, not just with regard to its subsidiary, but also its parent. As people will know, the British Government has taken a significant stake in the parent bank. The situation from our point of view is simple. It is that this announcement was made yesterday. We very much regret the fact this has happened. The Minister for Finance is in the process of restructuring the banking system and has provided a State guarantee which is the means by which we were able to stabilise the system during the course of the past year, something which was opposed by the Labour Party. We have passed the NAMA legislation, which is a prerequisite in order to take the stressed assets from the banks so that we can improve credit access into the economy through the banking system. The changed economic realities and the changed economic situation here have meant that other banks, which are not part of the State guarantee, have had to take certain decisions in respect of their business operations here and some 750 jobs are being lost, which is a matter of great regret and concern. However, during the course of this week, some 250 jobs are being created in the general financial services area. Yesterday, Dun and Bradstreet announced 100 new jobs, with the potential to grow significantly. Alcatel-Lucent from Bell Labs have announced 70 new highly skilled research jobs-----

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